Running in the snow...

My snowy path through Roydhouse Wood

On Castle Hill

      I've been a bit frustrated this past week, basically because I haven't been able to run as much as I'd have liked. Once I've got my Yaktrax strapped to my trail shoes I love running in the snow, I love that virgin whiteness under the lazuline blue, I love all the intricate black and white tracery of snowy branches, I love following the tracks of hares, foxes or resident Roe deer through their wild haunts. But it's been hard work these past few days, trying to run in such a manner that doesn't affect my dodgy hamstring too much.
      Yesterday I tried to nurse it as I tripped lightly over hazardous tree roots, through frozen, ankle twisting rutted fields and up stony lanes - only to come aeroplaning down Castle Hill, kamikaze style, like some demented child revelling in the winter conditions. In her inspirational book, 'Mud, Sweat and Tears' Moire O'Sullivan says "We're all mad in our own little ways, everyone has their own passion or madness for which they are willing to go that extra mile or two". It's true. Even in our dotage there is still something of an uninhibited child wanting to be let loose to play.

Winter flowering gorse on Castle Hill

       A well dressed gentleman in his seventies, and wearing a deerstalker, stopped me the other day as I jogged up the icy lane towards Castle Hill. "Do you know that every 20 minutes of running equates to six hours wear and tear on your joints?" he asked. Apparently this information was based on something his daughter had told him, and she just happens to be a physiotherapist. Well no, I didn't know that, but informed him my 80 year old joints didn't seem to be giving me much trouble, apart from feeling a bit stiff at times, and I was still running up to 24 miles a week. Perhaps my daily dose of Cod Liver Oil has something to do with it. "Ah well, you could go four times further if you stopped running and just walked" he replied. Actually, I'm not sure I'd want to walk 96 miles a week, and I certainly wont be visiting his daughter if that's the sort of advice she gives to runners.
      I've been interviewed again, this time by a lady with the charming name of Satu Hattula who hosts a website called 'bodycapable.com' and hails from Finland. She refers to me, somewhat embarrassingly, as an exercise hero (who? me?) and, even more embarrassingly, seems fascinated by the shape of my thighs in the picture I emailed her. It's a good job I'd kept my vest on!  Click on the link and have a read.